Improvement in exercising-machines



S. M. BARNETT. Exercising-Machine.

0 206.214. Patented July 23,1878.

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PETERS. FHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT DFFIcE.

SAMUEL l\ BARNETT, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

I MPROV EMENT IN EXERCISING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 206,214, dated July 23, 1578; application filed Xovembcr 2Q, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL M. BARNETT, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Exercising-Machines, of which the following is a specification The object of my invention is to produce a machine which will afford a great variety of exercises, and may be used in the house, and which will be so compact and so noiseless in its operations as to adapt it for use in private houses.

To this end my invention consists in a machine which I propose to call the Parlor Gymnasium, and in which are comprised a seat capable of being rocked or slid forward and backward, while the elastic stretchers are extended and allowed to contract, and a prop for the tongue of the machine, which may be detached and used in connection with said stretchers as a health-lift.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of a machine embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of said machine. Fi 3 is a transverse section of the same, taken on the plane of the dotted line :v a", Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a view of the end portions of two elastic stretchers,with a crossbar attached to the handles thereof. Fi 5 is a side view of one of the stretchers on a larger scale, and Fi 6 is a transverse section of said stretcher.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

The frame of the machine is represented as consisting of side pieces A, erected on feet a, and connected by stretchers or cross-rails B.- designates a tongue or bar extending from the frame A B of the machine, provided with foot-rests D, and connected to the frame of the machine, so that it may be adjusted longitudinally to adapt the foot-rests D to the convenience of persons of different sizes. I have shown this tongue or bar 0 as composed of two parts whose contiguous ends lap over one another, and are secured together by means of a screw, E, which, in this example of my invention, is formed with a leg, F, and serves to secure this leg in place, so as to properly support said tongue or bar. The inner end of said ton gue or bar is provided with a stock, 0', fitting in grooves in the side pieces A of the frame A B, so that the tongue or bar may be moved outward or inward at pleasure. The means for securing it in position may consistsimply in a pin or bolt fittingin a hole in said tongue and entering a hole or socket in one of the forward stretchers or cross-rails B.

I have shown on the outer end of the tongue J a swans head for the sake of ornamentation.

G designates elastic stretchers, shown as two in number, connected by loops or eyes Z to a stud, staple, or hook, h, located near the outer end of the tongue C, and provided at the other end with handles, which may be.

grasped by a person occupying the seat H of the machine. This seat H is supported by standards I, erected on a slide-piece, J, fitting in grooves or ways K in the side pieces A of the frame of the machine, so as to be capable of moving forward or backward relatively thereto. Preferably the ends of these grooves or ways K, or the ends of the slide-pieces J, are providedwith elastic steps or cushions b, so that violent concussions between the slidepiece and the ends of the grooves or ways in which it travels may be obviated, and the noise incident thereto be avoided.

The standards I, supporting the seat II, are pivoted to the slide-piece J by a rod, L, or otherwise, so that they and the seat may be rocked or tilted backward or forward. By thus combining the seat-supportin g standards with the slide-piece I provide for two entirely distinct movements of the seatnamely, a sliding movement and a rocking movement.

\Vhen the sliding movement of the seat is desired, the seatsupporting standards are locked rigidly to the slide-pieces by means of pins 0 or other devices passing through the standards at a into the slide-piece; but when the rocking movement is desired, the pins 0 or other devices are removed, and they or other pins or devices are inserted through the side pieces A of the frame A B, so as to secure the slide-piece against movement. This may be done by inserting the pins through the said side pieces of the frame into the slidepiece in any desirable position, or in front of the slide-piece when it is at the rear portion of the grooves or ways K.

P designates aprop for the outer end of the tongue to relieve it of strain. This prop may be made detachable from the tongue and furnished with hooks or eyes, so that it may have the stretchers G attached to it and be used in connection therewith as a health-lift, and serve as the base-piece to stand upon while the stretchers are extended and contracted.

A pin in the tongue 0, fitting in a hole in the edge of the prop, serves to retain it inposition for use in supporting the tongue. The tongue 0 may also be held down by beingfastened to the floor or surface of the wall.

Preferably, the foot-rests D have heel-recesses (I, so that the feet will not slip down during the exercising, and are provided with straps p for holding the feet to them. These straps, in order that they may the better serve to hold the feet of different-sized persons to the foot-rests, are made adj ustable-as, for instance, by having in them a series of holes, loops, or eyes, (see Fig. 1,) which may he slipped over pins or other devices on the footrests. g

The elastic stretchers G are composed of cores, consisting of a number of strands or strips of india-rubber, q, and covers or sheaths 1', consisting of woven or other suitable material loosely surrounding said core, and forming a stop whereby undue straining of the core is precluded. The ends of these stretchers are provided with handles j, which enable the stretchers, when detached from the exercising-machine, to be used for a variety of exercises for which they are adapted. They are also provided at one end with handles y, secured in place by loops 1', of cord or other suitable material, passing through them. These handles 9 may be slipped into a position transverse to the length of the stretehers, andmay be then conveniently used for exercises in the machine. By slipping these handles g to one side on their loops t a bar, M, may be attached to the loops by means of hooks or other devices arranged upon it, and may be then held in the hands instead of the handles g.

1t will be seen from the foregoing description that by my invention I provide an exercising-machine wherein a seat may either be rocked or slid forward or backward with or without the use of the elastic stretchers; that I provide for detaching the prop and combining it with the stretchers, so as to form a health-lift; that I provide for the detachment of the stretchers for use independently of other parts of the machine; and hence that I provide for a very great variety of exercises.

It will also be seen that by providing for detaching the tongue of the said machine the packing thereof may be facilitated for transportation.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with the frame of an exercising-machine and foot-rests, of a seat capable of being rocked forward and backward, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination, in an exercising-machine, of elastic stretchers and a seat capable of being rocked forward and backward, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. The combination, with an exercising-machine, of a seat capable of having both a sliding and a rocking movement, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4. The combination, in an. exercising-machine, with a seat and a supporting slide-piece, of means for locking the seat rigidly to the slide-piece and for lockin g the slide-piece rigidly to the frame of said machine, so that the seat may be rocked or slid relatively to the slide-piece, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

5. The combination, with an exercising-machine, of foot -rests provided with straps adapted to be adjusted lengthwise to suit feet of different sizes, substantially as specified.

6. The combination, with an exercising-machine, of foot-rests provided with heel-recesses and straps adjustable lengthwise, substantially as specified.

7. The combination, with an exercising-machine, of a tongue made in two parts, having contiguous lapped ends and a screw securin g them together and securing a leg for support ing them, substantially as specified.

8. A stretcher for exercising purposes composed of an elastic core and a loose bag-like sheath or covering loosely surrounding such core, substantially as specified.

9. The combination, in an exercising-1nachine, with a sliding seat and grooves or ways for the same, of elastic cushions or stops, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

10. The combination, with an exercisingmachine, of a prop for the tongue thereof, adapted to be detached and used in connection with the elastic stretchers as a health-lift, substantially as specified.

S. ill. BARNETT. lVitnesses:

OWEN PRENTISS, THOMAS E. BIRCH 

